The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, the Minister of Culture, Alberto Aguiar, and the CEO of the Tourist Centers, Benjamín Perdomo, held a meeting this Friday with almost a hundred cultural agents from the island to present the strategic axes of the 2023 Cultural Plan.
"After the success of an initiative that in 2022 served to democratize culture, revitalize a sector that was especially punished by the pandemic and make visible the talent and creativity of emerging and consolidated artists from Lanzarote, the Cabildo and the Tourist Centers are making four million euros available to Lanzarote's cultural fabric this year to continue building culture together,” they point out from the Cabildo.
The 2022 Cultural Plan allowed the launch of 130 projects of all kinds and from different plastic disciplines. “Today,” Corujo explained, “we want to listen to your proposals, opinions, experiences and suggestions to enrich the 2023 Cultural Plan and continue taking steps towards the future in a fundamental area on the island of César Manrique.”
The president explained that the 2023 Cultural Plan aspires to be a text “without limits, for everyone, inclusive and flexible. We want there to be no talent or creativity on the island that is not valued for its possible inclusion. We want to give a voice to those who never had one and make them participants in this change of model.”
Corujo encouraged the sector to “present their ideas to once again enjoy a top-level cultural proposal aimed at all audiences.”
In addition, she promised to take the document to the next Plenary Session for its possible approval “and begin working as soon as possible under the parameters of the already known dynamic and with the experience already accumulated.”
“Experiences and suggestions”
Next, the president opened a debate in which agents, representatives of associations and artists shared their personal experiences and conveyed the concerns and doubts that arise in the development of their activity.
“We will soon approve the Excellence Scholarships, which will allow young people who are obliged to expand their knowledge outside the island to continue their studies,” Corujo explained to a young violinist who had to leave Lanzarote to complete his training.
“We are making our commitment to the publishing world visible by launching the I Island Book Fair, which we will celebrate this year in Yaiza, and we are committed to supporting any initiatives that may arise related to a sector that has remained in institutional neglect for too long,” he replied to one of those responsible for Ediciones Remotas.
Corujo assured that the document will contain guidelines of an integrating nature aimed at “eliminating the difficulties that people with some type of disability face in expressing their talent”, as well as initiatives aimed at “promoting the care and attention of mental health among young people.”
The president collected the doubts and suggestions of representatives from the world of dance, from Mararía, writers, plastic artists, cultural groups and associations to “adapt to a text that we want to be a consensus to address the greatest possible number of demands from those who make and rescue culture in Lanzarote.”
Finally, she promised to articulate the necessary mechanisms “to eliminate the bureaucratic obstacles that artists face when presenting their projects and make culture more accessible.”